One would think salads are the safest, healthiest options on a fast food menu, but that’s not necessarily the case. That’s not good news for people like me who convince themselves that no matter how much dressing their greens are sloshing around in, it’s still healthy because it’s vegetables. Sure I add up the calories and think, “Ehhh, it’s a little high. I’ll just skimp on dinner.” Reality is, many fast food salads are saturated in fat and sodium.

Over-consumption of sodium may lead to high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart attack and stroke according to the Center for Disease Control. Meanwhile, saturated fat has been linked to heart disease, too. So while your brain may be celebrating your “healthy” salad choice, your heart is probably waiting for the room to stop spinning.

Good news: First, one unhealthy salad isn’t instantly going to give you a heart attack. Second, with the help of our resident (and awesome) nutritionist, Sidney Fry, I’ve compiled a list of the best grab-and-go salads. Your mind and your heart will be happy next time you pick up your fork and dive into one of these bowls:

Au Bon Pain

Southwest Chicken Salad: Power up with this salad of veggies, beans, corn, chicken and avocado. While the salad itself is fine nutritionally, the dressing threatens to put you over what you should be eating in one meal for sodium, so consider using 3/4 of the packet. Calories 360; Fat 11g (sat 2g); Sodium 360 mg. 3/4 Dressing Packet: Calories 120; Fat 13g (sat 2g); Sodium 360mg.

California Pizza Kitchen

Classic Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp, Half Size: If you like Caesar salads, stop by California Pizza Kitchen for one that won’t set you back from a good day of healthy eating. Simply classic: croutons, shrimp, lettuce, Parmesan cheese and dressing. This smaller salad packs a whopping 27 grams of protein. Calories 350; Fat 22g (Sat 8g); Sodium 568 mg.

Mango Salad with Steak: Stick to the basics with this salad–lettuce, steak, mango salsa and cilantro lime dressing–and you’re safe but start adding things like cheese, guacamole or the tortilla bowl and you’ll consume entirely too much sodium. Surprisingly, some of the salsas have as much sodium as the cheese, so stay away from those too! Salad and dressing: Calories 280; Fat 9g (sat 4g); Sodium: 615.

Subway

Turn your sandwich into a salad and save about 200 calories! One great option is the BLT salad, light on the honey mustard. Without the dressing, you’re looking at 150 calories, 3.5 grams of saturated fat and 450 milligrams of sodium. Salad: Calories 150; Fat 8g (sat 3.5g); Sodium 450 mg.

Like this:

COMMENTS

Healthy Salads Cooking Light « Recipes for Health

[…] The Best Fast-Food Salads | Cooking Light – One would think salads are the safest, healthiest options on a fast food menu, but that’s not necessarily the case. That’s not good news for people like me who convince themselves that no matter how much dressing their greens are sloshing around in, it’s still healthy because it’s … […]

October 15, 2014 at 10:48 pm

raw meals diet

I believe what you composed made a great deal of sense.
But, consider this, what if you added a little content?
I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your
blog, but suppose you added a post title to possibly grab people’s attention? I mean The Best Fast-Food Salads | Cooking Light is
a little vanilla. You ought to look at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they write
post headlines to get viewers to open the links. You might add a video
or a pic or two to grab readers interested about what you’ve got to say.
Just my opinion, it could bring your website a little bit more interesting.

September 21, 2014 at 3:46 am

» Check Out Our New Search FeatureBeautiful Life

[…] for one, am really excited about this new feature, since I have a documented problem consuming entirely too much sodium. With this in mind, I took our new engine for a […]